Warm Like Skye
by MissAnnThropic
Summary: Dean can be a nuisance, but he's not the only one trying Sam's patience.  Set in the Skyeverse


Title: Warm Like Skye

Author: MissAnnThropic

Spoilers: set in the Skyeverse (surrounding my fic "Wild by Skye")

LiveJournal: miss_annthropic(dot)livejournal(dot)com

Summary: Dean can be a nuisance, but he's not the only one trying Sam's patience. Set in the Skyeverse

Timeline: See the last chapter of "Wild by Skye" for a chronological listing of Skyeverse fics to know where exactly this falls in the timeline. Or, you know, just read the fic and figure it out! Or eat pie. I know which one Dean would vote for.

Disclaimer: None of it's mine. I'm just a sad little fangirl that spends her days writing fanfic and watching DVDs of her favorite shows :(

Author's Note: On the last chapter of Memory of Skye, I asked y'all what other stories in the Skyeverse you'd want to see. This was one of the repeat requests, so here you go!

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Dawn's light was barely peeking through the motel room curtains when Sam's cell phone on the nightstand between the two beds began to belt out part of Meredith Brooks' 'Bitch'.

_'__I'm a bitch, I'm a tease_  
_I'm a goddess on my knees_  
_when you hurt, when you suffer_  
_I'm your angel undercover'_

Two thoughts ran through Sam's head as he lay sprawled on his stomach. One: he was going to kill Dean (who kept putting that damn ringtone back on Sam's phone when he wasn't looking), and two: it better be an emergency to call so early.

Sam blindly groped for his phone, knocking his watch and a bottle of water to the floor before capturing the offending mobile as it vibrated around on the nightstand like a cartoon Mexican jumping bean, jiving to its own tune. Sam lifted his head from his pillow and looked first, before anything, toward the other bed. Empty. But then, Sam hadn't really expected Dean back yet. Last night was the first night of the full moon. Sam had endured a day of Dean practically climbing the walls (or the inside of the Impala, as it were), being an annoying big brother to the nth degree. Sam had been relieved when Dean finally found a motel on the edge of town and stopped for the night.

That Dean wasn't back yet didn't concern Sam… Dean was usually out all night on full moons. The phone that was letting him know what a bitch he was _did_ concern him, though. He brought it closer to his face and squinted at the number on the display.

When he realized who was calling, he groaned and rolled over on to his back, one arm thrown wide while the other opened the phone and brought it to his ear.

"Remind me why I gave you my number?" he grumbled.

"Top of the morning to you, too, Sunshine," a woman's energetic voice replied.

Despite his exhaustion and intention to be full-on grumpy bear about being woken up to do John Winchester proud, Sam snorted. "You're as bad as Dean."

"Hmmm… well, birds of a feather…"

"Wolves of a pelt," Sam countered.

"Pa-tay-toe, pa-tah-toe," she sing-songed.

Sam brought up his free hand to scrub at his face. "Just out of curiosity, do you have any idea what time it is?"

"Course I do… the _best_ time of day, when the night isn't quite ready to let go, dawn and twilight duking it out in the sky."

"Yeah… most people find that a perfect time to _sleep_."

There came a derisive snort that made Sam chuckle. "So, what are you boys up to?"

"Well, I was enjoying a REM cycle. Dean's still out." Sam yawned, talking around half the words. "I must have been crazy to give you carte blanche to call me whenever you wanted… I should have _known_ better."

"Very true… you can't claim ignorance of the kind of moods and hours lycanthropes keep."

"I know, I know, I just thought there's no way she can be as bad as Dean."

"And am I?" she asked sweetly.

Sam stretched, free arm overhead, feet arching, and toes wriggling while his t-shirt rode up and bared a strip of belly. "No... you're _worse_."

Rather than offended or annoyed, Sam's caller sounded amused. The laugh on the other end was genuine. Of course, Sam knew he'd have to really make an effort to sour a lycan's mood on either day that bracketed the first night of the full moon.

"You never answered my question about what you guys are up to," she finally pointed out, a hint of seriousness creeping into her tone.

Sam smiled to himself… he knew what she really wanted to know. "We're okay. Just finished up a gremlin problem."

"Like engine gremlins?"

"More like the kind you get when you feed a Mogwai after midnight."

A dramatic gasp preceded an awed and hushed, "Mogwais are _real_?"

Sam laughed then affected a stern tone of voice. "Please… don't be stupid."

They both laughed and Sam rolled up and out of bed. "How's everyone in town?"

"You know, good. Pretty quiet… nothing exciting since you Winchesters were in town."

Sam huffed out a breath as he shuffled toward the bathroom area. "You guy were all _wolves_ last night… I call that pretty exciting whether we were there or not."

"Eh, maybe to you… don't get me wrong, it's _fantastic_, but that's pretty regular stuff around here for us. So, you and Dean going to be anywhere near Eclipse River in the near future?"

Sam dug his toothbrush and toothpaste from the toiletries bag he'd put on the sink counter and set them aside. "Honestly, I don't know where we're headed next. We cleaned up that gremlin problem yesterday then it was pretty much shagging ass to get Dean somewhere where he could wolf out. Not that he couldn't just do it in the motel room…"

"But _what a waste_," she finished his sentence.

"That's usually Dean's attitude about it. So there is a _possibility_ we could be headed in that general direction."

"Mm hmmm… and any chance you might influence that decision?"

Sam chuckled and pulled out his razor and shaving cream. "_Maybe_… why, is there something going on in Eclipse River we dare not miss?"

"Just my dazzling company."

Sam laughed. "You lycans aren't much for humility, are you?"

"When you're badass, why hide it?"

Sam shook his head. "It's frightening how much you remind me of Dean sometimes. You know the meter on your badassery pretty much pegs on the full moon days, right? Most of the time, you all seem normal enough. Except Dean… he's always a freak show."

"I warn you, Sam Winchester, you're talking about a member of my pack there. I might get testy if you diss him."

"Bite me," Sam countered teasingly.

"Get your ass over here and I might."

He was completely struck dumb. An unexpected flush crept up Sam's neck and colored his cheeks. He'd gotten comfortable with Selene since he and Dean first visited Eclipse River, and they'd teased each other often enough that he was used to her playful side (especially on the day after the run of the full moon), but they had never joked around like _that_.

"So, that's what I've got to offer," Selene said airily, "me, myself, and I and maybe some biting. Ball's in your court, Sammy." With that, the connection went dead.

Sam pulled the phone down and looked at it, a little startled by the turn of the conversation… startled and frankly a little bit excited. Being Sam Winchester, he took a moment and looked at the evidence. He naturally had to question just how sincere Selene could possibly be. It was the morning after the run, after all, and he knew well that that made a lycan uncharacteristically high-spirited. No telling if Selene would ever have said that any other day of the month. But what if she was just letting herself say (through the guise of jest for safety) something she actually _wanted_ to say and the full moon had loosened her tongue and stripped her inhibitions?

More importantly, how did he feel about the whole thing if the latter was true?

Before he could think any further on the subject, the motel door opened and Dean, acting larger than life, practically bounded into the room.

"Heya, Sammy! Looks like a damn fine day breaking out there. Wow, you're up early."

Sam tossed his phone toward his unmade bed. "Yeah… my lycan alarm clock works even when you're not here."

Dean lifted his eyebrows toward the phone on the bed. "Who was it?"

"Selene," Sam said lowly, trying to downplay it as he turned back to the sink.

The dismissive delivery did not forestall Dean's wolfish grin. "Ah yeah… that's my Sammy, chasing tail."

"Dude, she called _me_. And for the record, you lycans are pathologically chipper at the ass crack of dawn."

Dean blinked vacantly at Sam. "It is so sad that you use words like that at the ass crack of dawn."

"Says the guy who was out all night running naked through the woods," the younger brother rebutted. Sam sniffed the air and frowned. "And apparently rolled in something. Dude, did you find a dead skunk?"

Dean lifted on arm and smelled his armpit. "I don't smell anything." He came closer to Sam, as if to prove his point that there was no odor.

Sam waved a hand in front of his face. "Ugh… I thought you were supposed to have a heightened sense of smell. Dean, you _reek_. We're not going _anywhere_ together in the car until you shower."

"Fine, fine… don't get your panties in a twist. I keep forgetting just _how_ girly you are. Do I have to douse myself in perfume to pass your muster, Sammy, or will some elbow grease with a bar of soap be all right with you?" He turned toward his unused bed and started peeling out of his clothes.

"Anything, as long as it doesn't smell like you scrubbed with roadkill," Sam retorted.

Dean took off the last of his clothes and stood buck-naked in the motel room, his filthy clothes on the bed. He turned to Sam, and for about the millionth time Sam cursed Dean's newfound comfort with nudity since becoming a lycan. It didn't do any good complaining about it… that only made Dean flaunt it, just to get Sam's goat.

So despite how perturbed Sam felt facing his brother wearing not one stitch of clothing, he kept his mouth shut about it.

Dean marched past Sam into the bathroom and closed the door. Seconds later, the water turned on.

Sam briefly considered throwing Dean's pile of smelly clothes outside, but settled for stuffing them into Dean's duffle and cinching the top closed. A laundromat would need to be in their near future before Dean's rank clothes tried to take over driving.

Sam was dressed and packed up by the time Dean came out of the shower, rubbing a towel through his wet hair, humming a Metallica song and dangling in the breeze casual as you please. It would be easier to bitch at Dean for his seeming contempt for clothes if Sam didn't know that it wasn't a Dean thing… it was a _lycan_ thing. He'd seen that whole town strip down to nothing; Dean, Jaina, Jeremy, Tanya… Selene.

"So, where to now?" Sam asked nonchalantly the table's single chair as Dean moved toward his own duffle. For a second, Sam feared Dean might pull out the same nasty clothes he'd just taken off, but thankfully Dean dug down to the bottom and found others. By no means clean, but not nearly so ripe.

Dean shrugged easily. "Don't know. I've got nothing." Dean stepped into his underwear then snapped a few wrinkles of a balled-up t-shirt. "Guess I could call Bobby, see if he has anything we can take off his hands."

Sam nodded absently. "Guess we could. We could stop by Eclipse River first… you know, just to visit."

Dean stopped in the middle of zipping up his jeans and looked straight at Sam. Actually, it felt like Dean looked through him. "Eclipse River," he parroted.

Sam shrugged one shoulder. "I mean, it is supposed to be home base now, right? We could start treating it like it. If we don't have anything pressing to go after, why not kick back at home?"

Dean's expression flinched at the word. For a second, Sam was worried he'd set off a landmine that the Winchesters tread so carefully to avoid. Then one corner of his mouth upturned. "Sure… home."

Sam searched Dean's face for what his brother really thought, and he could swear it was a hint of happiness. Sam couldn't help but smile. He loved that a place could do that to Dean. He loved that Dean felt like he had a home more than just the Impala.

"Yeah, we could go home for a few days," Dean finally said, warming to the idea and letting it be known. His serious expression was chased by sly. "This wouldn't have anything to do with a certain wolf girl, would it?"

"_Dean_…"

Dean chuckled and threw a balled-up pair of socks at his younger brother. "Never thought you would have the hots for a lycanthrope, little bro."

Sam lobbed the socks back at him. "Oh, _you_ are the last person who should lecture me about having the hots for a lycan chick! Besides, I never said I _did_, you jerk. Ever thought maybe I wanted to go back to Eclipse River for your sake? Huh? Give you some time with the pack. You make it really hard to be nice to you sometimes."

Dean flipped Sam the bird over his shoulder and went to gather their things from the bathroom. Within twenty minutes, the brothers were getting in the Impala and pulling out of the motel parking lot, headed toward Oregon.

Sam rolled down the window and turned his face into the wind. Crazed though it might seem at first blush, Selene was right. Early morning was an enchanting time of day. It seemed to embody hope.

Knowing they were going back to Eclipse River made Sam smile. It was so new and so awesome to have a place to call home. Someplace to go back to between hunts. It was all Sam had ever really wanted all his life. Some permanence was everything little Sam Winchester had craved. He thought he might have even been less hostile toward the hunt if there had been a safe, comforting place to retreat to. He wouldn't have asked for much, just a lifestyle more like Bobby Singer's. Now they had one… a place to call their own in a small town called Eclipse River, Oregon. Sam could almost picture the house down to the last detail, the Jeep in the garage, Tanya's Diner, the hometown feel of Eclipse River when they welcomed one of their pack home.

Dean had started off singing along to an AC/DC tape, still hyped and happy from last night's excursion, but after about an hour he got quiet and just drove.

Sam was starting to doze off in the passenger seat (_someone_ rudely woke him up at an ungodly hour and not everyone moved at Mach 2 the morning after a full moon night) when Dean tapped him on the arm. "Hey, Sam?"

Sam opened his eyes and looked over at his brother. "Yeah?"

Dean spared him a brief but serious look.

"Listen, about you and Selene…"

Sam rolled his eyes. "Dude, seriously, give it a rest. We're just –"

"Just shut up and listen, okay?" Dean's eyes hardened as he stared ahead at the road, his hands closing tighter around the steering wheel. "I'm not going to tell you not to go after her. I mean, you're right; I'm the last one who should lecture you about staying away from a lycan chick. And I can't even say it's not damn fantastic being with a lycan." A hint of sadness ghosted over Dean's face as he thought of Skye.

"But…?"

Dean sighed and swallowed thickly. "Just… you gotta be careful, okay?"

Sam frowned. He was used to Dean telling Sam to watch himself on a hunt, but when it came to a woman? And not just any woman, but Selene? "You think she'd actually hurt me?"

"That's not what I'm talking about. Could she kick your ass? In a heartbeat. But I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about getting in too deep to get out before you know what's going on. If she _chooses_ you… that shit is forever, Sam. Hooking up's one thing, some sex between two consenting adults is fine, but if you two _mate_…" Dean cast a quick glance over at Sam. "Just be careful. When it comes to lycans, you can get in over your head before you know what's hit you."

Sam was struck silent for a second, just staring at his older brother. "Is that… is that what happened with you and Skye?"

Dean stiffened defensively. There was a definitely edge in his voice when he growled, "Skye wasn't a _mistake_, if that's what you're asking."

"No, I wasn't, I didn't say that, I just…"

Dean pursed his lips, scowled, then said, "I'm just saying, watch out for that delicate heart you like to lay out on your sleeve so much like a sissy girl."

"Oh, screw you," Sam retorted, appreciating the reversion to humor for the escape route that it was. He made a mental note to never suggest (to never even _hint_) that Skye was ever a mistake.

"See… I knew you had sex on the brain," Dean grinned.

Sam shook his head in exasperation. "Just shut up and drive, you jerk."

"Bitch." Dean shot another look at his younger brother, and the expression on his face was downright impish.

It made Sam remember his early morning wakening. "And _stay away from my phone_!"

END

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Any and all other suggestions more than welcome… I will pile them on a platter, put them in front of the Muse, and see if she bites :D


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